John Smith (Labour)

John Smith (13 September 1938-12 May 1994) was Leader of the Labour Party (and thus Leader of the Opposition) from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, succeeding Neil Kinnock and preceding Tony Blair.

Biography
John Smith was born in Dalmally, Scotland in 1938, and was educated at Dunoon Grammar School and Glasgow University. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1967, and was elected to Parliament for the Labour Party to represent Lanarkshire North from 1970 to 1983 and Monklands East from 1983 to 1994. He heled junior offices under Harold Wilson from 1975, and entered the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1978 to 1979. In opposition, he held a number of portfolios, before becoming Neil Kinnock's Shadow Chancellor in 1987. In this post, he excelled in parliamentary debate, although his shadow budget before the 1992 election did little to improve the party's prospects. He succeeded Kinnock in the leadership and continued his drive to reform the party towards the political center ground, most critically through ending trade union power in leadership elections through the introduction of one member, one vote ballots. After his sudden death, he was succeeded by Tony Blair, a radical modernizer devoid of trade union links.